During the Peloponnesian War, Pericles gave a speech during a funeral. In his speech, Pericles states, “Our system is called a democracy, for it respects the majority and not the few…” (Thucydides, 58). This claim is not entirely true. Classical Athens claimed to be a democracy, but did not truly respect the majority and not the few. Many people and groups were not respected and treated equally. Women were not allowed to vote in classical Athens. From that rule alone, roughly half of your population’s voice is not heard in its entirety. The women of Athens thought that they didn’t have a say in the matter of the war, as the men continually voted to go to war, whether the women wanted to or not (Aristophanes 75). How can you claim that you respect the majority if you do not respect the women?
Although no law disallowed poor Athens to
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This made many previously Athenian citizens become non-citizens. Non-citizens were unable to hold office or take part in voting, so they had no say about the law and decisions made. A true democracy needs freedom of religion; therefore, you cannot be a democracy if you try to control the people’s thoughts. A law against impiety was passed to deter the people from believing in things such as other deities. Consequentially, a famous philosopher of Athens, Socrates, was tried and executed for questioning the Gods. The way that Socrates was tried and executed for impiety is even more questionable. Three men accused Socrates of impiety. To judge if he was innocent or not, the three men spoke in front of 500 men, telling why Socrates was guilty. Socrates then spoke in front of the men, telling why he was innocent. Only the simple majority needed to say he was guilty. Imagine being accused of a crime, then having a jury of men that did not personally know you decide if you should be put to